Muschamp just laughs at Stoops' anti-SEC remarks

May 10, 2013|Mike Bianchi, SPORTS COMMENTARY

Running off at the typewriter ...

Florida Gators coach Will Muschamp couldn't help but laugh the other night when I told him of the comments made by Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, who earlier this week said the overall strength of Southeastern Conference football is a result of media propaganda.

"So they [SEC] have had the best team in college football," Stoops told Oklahoma fans at a booster club meeting a few days ago. "They haven't had the whole conference. Because, again, half of 'em haven't done much at all. I'm just asking you. You tell me. … You're listening to a lot of propaganda that gets fed out to you. You're more than smart enough to figure it out. Again, you can look at the top two, three, four, five, six teams, and you can look at the bottom six, seven, eight, whatever they are. How well are they all doing?"

When Muschamp was informed of Stoops' comments at Wednesday night's meeting of the Central Florida Gator Club, he just chuckled.

"I'd be saying the same thing if I were in the Big 12," cracked Muschamp, the former defensive coordinator at Texas. "I said it for three years."

Bob Stoops is a helluva coach, but he's delusional if he believes the SEC has benefited from propaganda. The league has won SEVEN straight national championships — SEVEN!

As for Stoops' contention that the bottom half of the SEC isn't that strong, well, there's a good reason for that: Because the top half of the SEC beats up the bottom half so badly. And, as Tony Kornheiser said on PTI the other day, you know who else the top half of the SEC beats up on? Teams like Oklahoma, that's who.

Short stuff: The Bold City Brigade — a Jacksonville Jaguars fan website — claims to have to have more than 500,000 "real" fans who voted on an Internet poll against the Jags signing Tim Tebow. One question: If there are 500,000 "real" Jaguars fans then why the stadium tarps? … In related news, the Bold City Brigade also claims that 10 million fans are on a waiting list for Jaguars season tickets, 5 million have bought Blaine Gabbert jerseys and all 46 NFL Hall-of-Fame voters have been polled and are confirming that Mark Brunell will go into Canton on the first ballot. … Did you see where "Iron Man 3" made $175 million on its opening weekend and has already netted $700 million worldwide? This is believed to be the most money made by a stiff, robotic, heavy-legged humanoid since the Magic acquired Kelvin Cato. …

Best quote of the week came from fellow Sentinel writer Edgar Thompson when lamenting today's youth: "If it doesn't happen on their hand-held devices, it doesn't exist." … Who has damaged their reputation more this NBA season — Derrick Rose, who won't play, or Dwight Howard, who won't say where he wants to play? … A millionaire Palm Beach widow was caught on camera giving the middle finger to Joakim Noah as the Chicago Bulls center left the court following a loss to the Miami Heat. I guess you could say a picture is worth a thousand birds, er, words. …

Craig Ferguson: "Over the weekend, the Rolling Stones played here at the Staples Center but they had to cut their ticket prices in half to fill the seats. I guess if people wanted go to the Staples Center to see old guys shuffling around way past their prime, they'd just go see the Lakers." … Ronde Barber — the last of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' iconic Fab Four — has retired. Sapp, Brooks, Lynch and Barber are Tampa Bay's version of John, Paul, George and Ringo. … Daniel Snyder says the Washington Redskins will never change their racially insensitive nickname as long as he owns the team. Question: Would Snyder, who is Jewish, have the same stance if the team nickname was an ethnic slur aimed at Jews? …

Only one voter — a writer from the Boston Globe — did not vote LeBron James as the league MVP and instead voted for Carmelo Anthony. Let this be the last time anyone from Massachusetts makes fun of Florida's voting ineptitude. … Players Championship tweet from Hays Carlyon of the Florida Times-Union: "Vijay Singh misses cut at 1-over, plans to sue the top 70 in the field for damaging his reputation." … Last word: With all this talk of closing Gitmo, I've got a great idea for how to extract sensitive information from international terrorists: threaten to send them to a Marlins game!

Open Mike:

Don't forget, you can click on OrlandoSentinel.com and read the wildly popular Open Mike blog and interactive extravaganza to get my freshest takes on what's happening in the world of sports. Here's a blog about prominent Orlando lawyer John Morgan airing a radio ad imploring the Jaguars to sign Tebow:

Powerful Orlando attorney John Morgan is known for his famous "For the People" television and radio commercials and now has taken the mantra to the airwaves of Jacksonville in an attempt to get the Jaguars to sign Tim Tebow.